Fleetwood

ATLANTA — Tommy Fleetwood of England ended a summer of heartache with the richest prize on the PGA Tour, winning the Tour Championship on Sunday for his first tour title to capture the FedEx Cup and its $10-million reward.

Fleetwood got plenty of help at the start when Patrick Cantlay began bogey-double bogey and could never catch up. Scottie Scheffler hit his opening tee shot out-of-bounds and still was a threat until a tee shot into the water ended his hopes on the 15th.

Through it all, Fleetwood held his nerve. He closed with a two-under 68 for a three-shot victory over Cantlay (71) and Russell Henley (69).

“I’ve been a PGA Tour winner for a long time, it’s just always been in my mind,” Fleetwood said. “A lot of close calls, but I’ve always enjoyed the challenge.”

His first PGA Tour victory came with two trophies — the FedEx Cup and the “Calamity Jane” replica putter for the Tour Championship.

Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley was within one shot of the lead on the front nine but wound up with a 70 to tie for seventh. He said he was “dead tired,” and now has to decide whether to use one of his six captain’s picks on himself. He announces his picks Wednesday.

“The only thing I care about is on Sunday of the Ryder Cup, that we win the Ryder Cup. Then I’ll know I made the right decision,” he said. “Until then, I won’t know. It’s going to be pretty wild.”

But this day, this moment, belonged to Fleetwood, enormously popular around the world for coping with so many close calls with a refreshing perspective and joy for those who beat him.

An eight-time winner around the world, no stranger to big stages at the Ryder Cup or his silver medal at the Olympics last summer, Fleetwood was constantly reminded about his failure to win on golf’s strongest circuit.

He saw a one-shot lead turn into a one-shot loss at the Travelers when he took three putts from the front of the green and Bradley made birdie. Fleetwood let a two-shot lead with three holes left get away from him at the FedEx St. Jude Championship to start the postseason.

For all the hurt, he never lost hope.

“Tomorrow might be my time, it might not,” he said Saturday evening before his third try going into the final round with no one in front of him. “But I’ll still have a great time doing it.”

It was his time, and he had a blast.

Thousands of fans surrounded the 18th green at East Lake to watch the 34-year-old from England, all of them chanting, “Tommy! Tommy! Tommy!” Justin Rose, who rallied past him to win two weeks ago, and Shane Lowry stuck around to share in his big moment.

Fleetwood removed his cap when he tapped in for par, looked to the cloudy sky and let those long locks flow as he let out a yell.

Finally, Fleetwood.

“This wasn’t the most comfortable I’ve been,” Fleetwood said with a smile. “I feel like I’ve had a great attitude throughout it all. … I’m so happy I got it done.”

He started the final round tied for the lead with Cantlay, the FedEx Cup champion from 2021 searching for his first win in three years. Cantlay made bogey on the first, three-putted for double bogey on the second and suddenly was four behind.

Cantlay never went away, however, and a two-shot swing on the 10th — Fleetwood made bogey from the left rough, Cantlay made a five-foot birdie — narrowed the gap to one shot. The next three holes were pivotal.

Cantlay failed to get on the green from a bunker on the par-three 11th and made bogey. Fleetwood birdied the next two holes with wedges to the six-foot range, and Cantlay could only match one of them.

The last big hurdle was the 218-yard 15th to a peninsula green, where Fleetwood went in the water Saturday and made double bogey. This time he managed a bogey and didn’t miss a step the rest of the way in finishing at 18-under 262.

Cantlay was two back with three to play when he missed the 16th fairway and made bogey.

“It’s always good to have a chance on Sunday and to be right there. I’ve been there plenty of times, and any time you get in that spot, it’s a real pleasure,” he said.

Henley went 13 straight holes without a birdie and couldn’t put any serious pressure on him.

Scheffler’s start was even more shocking. His tee shot went left and disappeared under a fence, out-of-bounds. Then, he got up-and-down from 201 yards to salvage a bogey. He ran off three birdies in four holes to finish the turn, making a 40-foot birdie putt on the par-three ninth.

But he missed a five-foot birdie on the 10th, and his hopes ended with a five-iron that went into the water on the 15th for double bogey. He closed with a 68.

There’s no doubting the best this year. Scheffler won five times, including two majors. He finished the season with 21 consecutive rounds in the 60s, and he has gone five straight months finishing no worse than fifth. He was trying to become the first back-to-back FedEx Cup champion.

“I battled all week to give myself a chance. I wasn’t as sharp as I would have hoped to have,” Scheffler said. “I had a good first round, but outside of that didn’t really play my best the first few days. Still gave myself a shot. Just needed a few better swings.”

Cameron Young also lingered for much of the final round and shot 66 to tie for fourth with Scheffler and Corey Conners (62), strengthening his bid to make his first Ryder Cup team before home fans in New York.

“The more times you get it wrong or it doesn’t happen for you, you start to not fear it,” Fleetwood said of his chances of winning after narrowly missing out on victory at the St Jude Championship and Travelers Championship earlier this season.

“Experience is something you can’t practise. It’s all to play for and an amazing opportunity.

“Everybody competing this week wanted to be in that final pair on Sunday and I’m one of those guys. Hopefully I am stood on the 18th green with the trophy.”

And on a leaderboard stacked with great potential storylines, US Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley is on 13 under after shooting the low round of the day, a seven-under 63 at East Lake in Atlanta.

Bradley, who is currently 11th on the US ranking list, has already said he faces “the decision of his life” as he contemplates naming himself as one of his six picks to complete the 12-strong US team for next month’s contest against Europe at Bethpage Black in New York.

Arnold Palmer was the last playing captain on a Ryder Cup team in 1963 when the contest was not the behemoth it has become.

That call will be made public on Wednesday, 27 August and Cantlay must be in Bradley’s reckoning too.

Cantlay was fifth in the world heading into the 2023 Ryder Cup, where he became something of a pantomime villain over his decision to not wear a cap. Since then, he has steadily fallen down the rankings to 23rd.

And he has missed out on automatic qualification for the Ryder Cup, meaning he needs a captain’s pick from Bradley to make his third successive US team.

The 33-year-old, who won the Tour Championship in 2021, closed with a hat-trick of birdies to cap an impressive bogey-free 64.

“I feel like I’m striking it well and in control of my golf ball,” he said.

“I’m exactly where I want to be going into Sunday and I’ll keep sticking to my process.”

The leaders will also have an eye on world number one Scottie Scheffler, who is lurking on 12 under after a 66.

Scheffler opened with successive bogeys but five birdies in his next eight holes lifted him to 11 under.

However, he missed several other short birdie putts and after a wayward eight-foot attempt on the 16th, he angrily threw his putter at his bag as his frustrations boiled over.

Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre looked to be surging into contention when he reached 11 under with a birdie on the 10th but he too double-bogeyed the 15th after hitting his tee shot into water as he posted a 72 to end on eight under.

Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy briefly flickered, getting to nine under with a birdie on the 13th but a poor finish with successive bogeys saw him end on six under overall.

Both of those players have secured their Ryder Cup spots but several European players will be looking to give their captain Luke Donald a timely reminder of their quality on Sunday.

Ireland’s Shane Lowry, who looks likely to be knocked out of the final qualifying spot for the European Ryder Cup team by Rasmus Hojgaard at the British Masters, is the highest placed of those at nine under par.

Lowry cannot improve his ranking at the Tour Championship, while Hojgaard, who is 14th at the Belfry heading into the final round, needs to be in the top 29 to nick that final automatic spot.

Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg and Viktor Hovland of Norway are at five and four under respectively and require Donald to give them the nod.

The same goes for Sepp Straka, who is set to finish eighth, above Aberg and Hovland in the qualification standings. The Austrian has won twice on the PGA Tour this year, but has had a poor week in Atlanta and is bottom of the 30-man field on six over par.

You can follow the final round of the Tour Championship via BBC Sport’s live text page from 18:30 BST on Sunday.

Justin Rose beat JJ Spaun in a nail-biting play-off to win the St Jude Championship, his first PGA Tour title in more than two years.

The 45-year-old Englishman had lost on the first hole of a sudden-death play-off with Rory McIlroy at this year’s Masters.

But this time the world number 20 held his nerve to take it to a third sudden-death hole with American Spaun at TPC Southwind in Memphis.

Both hit par on their first go at the 18th hole and birdied their second, before Spaun failed to follow suit after Rose claimed another birdie.

That gave Rose his 12th PGA Tour title while compatriot Tommy Fleetwood’s wait for his first win goes on after he had gone into the final round of his 162nd event on the US circuit with a one-stroke lead.

The world number 15, a seven-time winner on the European Tour, bogeyed the penultimate hole to relinquish a share of the lead and finish one adrift of Rose and Spaun.

The world number 15 lost his lead early in the third round following a double bogey at the par-five third and a bogey at the seventh.

That left Rose alone in the lead and he followed with a birdie at the seventh, but then found water at the ninth and made bogey while Fleetwood birdied the ninth to regain a share of the lead.

The 34-year-old went clear again with a 14-foot birdie putt at the 12th and claimed another birdie on the 16th.

He had a three-shot lead after 17 holes, but a bogey on the last allowed Rose to pull within one with a birdie.

Fleetwood has had five top-five finishes this season and was runner-up behind Keegan Bradley at the Travelers Championship in June.

Players who finish in the top 50 of the FedEx Cup standings after Sunday’s round at TPC Southwind will advance to next week’s BMW Championship – the second of the PGA Tour’s three play-off tournaments.

Tommy Fleetwood carded a six-under 64 to open up a four-shot lead before play was suspended in the second round of the St Jude Championship in Memphis due to severe weather.

Having shot 63 in the opening round, the 34-year-old Englishman followed up superbly with seven birdies.

A bogey on the 18th was the only blemish on Fleetwood’s total of 13 under as he put himself in a strong position for a first ever PGA Tour victory.

After hitting a fine 65, two-time major champion Collin Morikawa is at nine under, along with his fellow American Akshay Bhatia in the opening event of the FedExCup play-offs.

England’s Justin Rose was on the 17th tee and among 21 players still yet to finish when play was stopped due to lightning. He was also four shots adrift of Fleetwood.

England’s Tommy Fleetwood was denied his first PGA Tour title in heartbreaking fashion as American Keegan Bradley claimed the Travelers Championship by a single shot.

Fleetwood, 34, held an three-shot overnight lead going into the final round as he looked to finally get over the line on the PGA Tour.

After 41 top-10 finishes, Fleetwood looked on course to end his wait as he held a two-shot lead with three holes to play and a one-shot advantage going into the final hole.

After a decent tee shot on the 18th, a poor putt on his third shot left Fleetwood needing to hole from six-feet to make par.

But he narrowly missed, leaving him to bogey and hope that Bradley, who had reached the green in two, would miss his birdie putt.

The 2011 US PGA Championship winner – who will captain the USA at the Ryder Cup in September – made no mistake, slotting home to deny Fleetwood even a play-off.

“I’m gutted right now,” said Fleetwood.

“I’ve not been in that situation for a long time. It’s probably the worst way to finish.

“Leading by two with three to play. Leading by one going into the last and you don’t even make it to a play-off. It’s the worst way it could go.”

England’s Tommy Fleetwood will take a three-shot lead into the final round of the Travelers Championship in Connecticut.

The 34-year-old, looking to clinch his first PGA Tour title, had a share of a three-way lead after the second round.

A brilliant seven-under-par 63 on Saturday has given Fleetwood the outright lead over American pair Russell Henley and Keegan Bradley.

Henley catapulted into contention with a blistering nine-under-par 61 that included four birdies in his first six holes.

The American set a clubhouse score of 13 under but Fleetwood got to 14 under with an eagle on the par-five 13th.

A birdie on the 15th followed and Fleetwood came close to finishing his round by picking up another stroke.

While world number one Scottie Scheffler slumped to a two-over 72, world number two Rory McIlroy shot a two-under 68.

The Northern Irishman made four bogeys across the front nine but a double bogey on the 12th probably ruined his hopes of a late charge on Sunday.

England’s Tommy Fleetwood made two eagles in a second-round 65 to take a share of the lead in the Travelers Championship in Connecticut.

The 34-year-old, who shot a first-round 66, sits on nine under par alongside world number one Scottie Scheffler and his fellow American Justin Thomas.

Fleetwood, who is searching for his first PGA Tour title, carded a modest level-par opening half but then surged up the field in the last six holes at TPC River Highlands.

He eagled the par-five 13th by finding the green in two shots then sinking a 10-foot putt before holing out from the fairway with a 30-yard shot on the par-four 14th to pick up two more strokes.

A 12-foot birdie putt at the par-three 16th gave him a share of the lead, with Australian Jason Day one shot back.

“I’ve been having a good season and I felt like my game was in a really good place going into the US Open last week,” Fleetwood told Sky Sports.

“For whatever reason – I’ll never understand the game – I played really poorly but in golf there is always another week and this week is a big week.

“I came out motivated to take whatever there is to learn to make you better for the coming weeks and so far this week I’m happy with how I bounced back.”

Thomas reeled off five consecutive birdies in his six-under 64 while Scheffler carded a 69 to also sit atop the leaderboard.

World number two Rory McIlroy, who was two off the first-round lead, had a frustrating day with a one-over 71 that dropped him to four behind.

McIlroy made three bogeys in his opening four holes and turned in three-over 38, but three birdies in his next six holes recovered the damage.